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Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bug

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DamonLynch
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2019/06/11 17:20:27 (permalink)
A Minneapolis pro photographer experienced a support nightmare with his $7,000 USD Macbook Pro, as summarized by the Register.
 
His machine appeared not to function properly, with the screen being black when it was turned on — when in reality the root cause of the problem was that the screen brightness was set so low the screen was off, which persists when the machine is rebooted. $10,000 USD worth of repairs were done to the machine, including two motherboard changes, not to mention the amount of time it took the photographer and the Apple support staff.
 
Despite these problems, the photographer writes his machine is "an excellent computer and I once again feel confident in fully endorsing it for photographers."
 
In my opinion, Apple made a truly terrible decision to allow their computers to boot with a completely black screen, and neither outputing to an external display until after login nor allowing the brightness to be adjusted until after login. Anyone of those things is silly; combined they're plain destructive.
#1

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    Hoggle
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/11 17:36:54 (permalink)
    I think all people need to know about Apple is they are a computer company that thinks people should spend $1000 on a monitor stand. Not a monitor but just the stand to put the monitor on.
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    #2
    GTXJackBauer
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/11 19:31:06 (permalink)
    Sounds like they might have known the simple fix but kept racking up the costs for the customer.

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    #3
    DamonLynch
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/11 19:33:38 (permalink)
    GTXJackBauer
    Sounds like they might have known the simple fix but kept racking up the costs for the customer.


    The laptop was fully covered under warranty. The only cost borne by the owner was his time, which was considerable. All other costs were borne by Apple, which considering employee time, must have been huge.
    #4
    GTXJackBauer
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/11 19:49:11 (permalink)
    DamonLynch
    GTXJackBauer
    Sounds like they might have known the simple fix but kept racking up the costs for the customer.


    The laptop was fully covered under warranty. The only cost borne by the owner was his time, which was considerable. All other costs were borne by Apple, which considering employee time, must have been huge.




    Gotcha but surely it was costly for someone who depends on their laptop for business.

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    #5
    DamonLynch
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/11 20:05:12 (permalink)
    GTXJackBauer
     
    Gotcha but surely it was costly for someone who depends on their laptop for business.




    Yes indeed. The interesting point here is that it collapses the distinction between DIY computers and pre-built units that come with near top-level support packages. That is, when you build your own computer, it can be costly in time to troubleshoot and fix it. But in this case, it was still costly to the end user to have the bug resolved even though Apple provides a nominally high standard of customer support. I've never owned an Apple computer, but I imagine the support is akin to that provided by the business oriented arms of HP, Dell and Lenovo, with the difference being you don't need to pay for on-site service assuming you live close enough to one of their shops.
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    aka_STEVE_b
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/12 11:10:07 (permalink)
    Apple = a fool & his money are soon parted

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    panzlock
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/12 11:20:22 (permalink)
    I'd write a different article. "Idiot Art Graduate Purchases $7,000 Mobile PC."
    #8
    transdogmifier
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/12 11:41:51 (permalink)
    panzlock
    I'd write a different article. "Idiot Art Graduate Purchases $7,000 Mobile PC."




    And then complains he can't pay his 250k student loan.

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    DamonLynch
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/12 18:49:03 (permalink)
    transdogmifier
    panzlock
    I'd write a different article. "Idiot Art Graduate Purchases $7,000 Mobile PC."




    And then complains he can't pay his 250k student loan.




    Actually he is a good pro photographer, with his best work being landscapes e.g. this photo of the Oregon coast. It's not easy to make money from photography these days, so good for him if he is able to.
     
    It's a well-known fact that many pro photographers use Macs, including those who are technically very highly sophisticated. I have zero interest in owning a Mac myself, for several reasons, but I see no need to treat those who do as if they're fools.
    #10
    Hoggle
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/12 22:45:09 (permalink)
    I find it funny that Apple would tell people that the IPad has so many pixels the human eye can’t see them. Then they release a 6K monitor that is only 32”. According to Apple the 6K monitor would have pixels packed so tightly you wouldn’t notice the differences between 4K and 6K.

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    panzlock
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/13 07:34:47 (permalink)
    DamonLynch
    transdogmifier
    panzlock
    I'd write a different article. "Idiot Art Graduate Purchases $7,000 Mobile PC."




    And then complains he can't pay his 250k student loan.




    Actually he is a good pro photographer, with his best work being landscapes e.g. this photo of the Oregon coast. It's not easy to make money from photography these days, so good for him if he is able to.
     
    It's a well-known fact that many pro photographers use Macs, including those who are technically very highly sophisticated. I have zero interest in owning a Mac myself, for several reasons, but I see no need to treat those who do as if they're fools.




    Not a good idea using that photo if you want praise someone for their camera work. Snaps a shot then repaints it with hardware and software. If there was anymore technology in that photo it would be a fighter jet.
    #12
    529th
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/13 07:39:14 (permalink)
    My old MBP 2011 does that.  One day I just entered my login credentials while the screen was black and it booted into the OS.  The cost was free, lol
    #13
    Zeddivile
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/13 08:31:37 (permalink)
    10,000$ in repairs. What's that the cost of repair on 1 device...

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    GTXJackBauer
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    Re: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by bu 2019/06/13 08:35:55 (permalink)


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